Across the Universe

A group of adventure seekers follow their destiny across the world and the dimensions beyond

Kobold Hall

The adventure begins

27

JAN/09

The party descended into Kobold Hall with their spirits up, and ready for combat. In the first chamber, though, they were nearly defeated. The surprising accuracy of the slingers caught the party off guard, and if it weren’t for Aranis’ heroic strike, and Laanoa’s fateful last shot, things could have gone much differently. Using the rear chamber of the guard chamber, the heroes took an extended rest.

In the second chamber, the group found more success. However, cleverly concealed traps played havoc on Mikael, and he was felled by one of the three kobolds that guarded the tomb chamber. Still, in comparison to the initial assault, the party did much better. Another rest in the rear chamber of the guard room, and they set about delving deeper into the hall.

The third chamber the party came upon found a group of kobolds using a rock-on-a-rope implement, along with slingers, to assault the group. Laanoa, up until now deadly accurate, was repeatedly knocked into a slime pit in the center of the chamber, keeping her from much of the action. When Mikael scaled one of the raised platforms that the kobolds were attacking from, he caught the attention of a guard drake that had been hiding in the rear of the chamber. When he fled, it chased, followed shortly after by the second – which burst through the wooden doors which divided the rear of the chamber from the front. Already hurt from the battle with the kobolds, the heroes nearly perished fighting the drakes. Once again, though, Laanoa’s aim proved true as she slayed the first of the two beasts. The second was killed by none other than Mikael, who had slipped into unconciousness on the virge of death, but had miraculously recovered himself. Exhausted and greviously wounded, the party took another long rest back in the guard room.

After a long rest, the party followed the path that led off from the rear of the drake-room chamber. It led to a large-ish chamber with a central pillar that stood about 10 feet tall and was about 20 feet wide. Upon entering the room, the party heard a cackling laugh, then splintering of wood off to their right. Freed of its restraints, a giant boulder began to careen around the room. At that time, a pair of slingers jumped up on top of the central pillar and began firing at the party. Aranis and Mikael immediately made to break down the door on the right side of the now-obviously hollow pillar. Laanoa, seeing the ramp to the right as an advantageous position, made her way over there as well. Once there, she spotted a pair of Kobold Dragonshields. They spotted her, and rushed toward her. Mikael stopped his effort to scale the pillar and did his best to hold off the dragonshields. Aranis, who did break down the door and scale the pillar via a ladder on the inside, slayed the last of the two slingers, only to be set upon by another guard drake. Also, from his high vantage point, he spotted what appreared to be the leader: A wyrmpriest. Leaping back down to hide from the drake, Aranis joined the rest of the party as they killed off the kobolds and the drake. As they did, the wyrmpriest joined the fray and let loose a barrage of damage. It took all four working together, but the party defeated the priest. Among the priest’s belongings was a “+1 Staff of the War Mage”, which Damakos quickly claimed.

Inside his robes, they found a key leading them deep into the heart of the Hall to a large chamber that appeared to be the main room. At the far end was a human wizard, flanked by another dragonshield kobold. Revealing himself to be Lazarus the Black, the mage attacked the party. As the heroes rushed the mage and his guard, more kobolds emerged from a small room to the mage’s left. The melee fighters engaged in combat, a secret door opened near the rear of the chamber, and a pair of kobolds descended on the unprotected Damakos and Laanoa. After a hard fought battle, the kobolds and their master were finally defeated. Atop the chamber’s altar was a large stack of gold, a “+1 Lifedriker Longsword” and a “+1 Cloak of Resistance”.